As the jihadis in Iraq gain ground and control of the country's borders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged this week that Israel plans to support Jordan if the Hashemite Kingdom is threatened.

The Jewish-born founder of RevolutionMuslim.com, a radical Islamic website, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison by a US court last Friday for disseminating threats against Jewish organisations.

Youssef al-Khattab, 42 — born in New Jersey as Joseph Leonard Cohen — pleaded guilty in October last year to inciting terrorism, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

As Lebanon rapidly becomes engulfed by the fighting in neighbouring Syria, various factions in the country are trying to pull Israel into the conflict.

On Friday morning, Israeli planes bombed a base of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) near Beirut, retaliating after the launch of four Katyusha rockets the previous day from Lebanon.